Essay/Term paper: Ticonderoga and crown point

Essay, term paper, research paper:  History

The immediate object of the

attack on the British Forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point

on May 10 and 11, 1775 was first to capture the forts

themselves, but also to obtain a cannon and supplies to use

for the impending seige of Boston. Washington, who

assumed command of the American forces on July 2, 1775,

could not attempt this attack without heavy artillery, which

was procured by Colonel Ethan Allen, Colonel Benedict

Arnold and Colonel Seth Warner with Vermont"s Green

Mountain Boys. Green Mountain Boys, was the name of a

group of soldiers from Vermont led by Allen, Warner and

Arnold. They took their name from the Green Mountains in

Vermont. The Green Mountain Boys were originally

organized by Ethan Allen before the revolution to protest the

claims of the New York government to Vermont territory,

and were later joined by Seth Warner and Benedict Arnold.

Seth Warner, was born in Connecticut and later moved to

Vermont, where he was declared an outlaw in 1771 for

forcibly resisting a New York claim to the area, and had a

reward offered for his capture. Under Ethan Allen and

Benedict Arnold, he participated in the seizure of Fort

Ticonderoga and led the force that took Crown Point the

next day. Later that year, he was elected lieutenant-colonel

commandant of the Green Mountain Boys. Ethan Allen was

also born Connecticut, moving to Vermont in 1769. He

became involved in the struggle between New York and

New Hampshire for control of the region, just like Allen

was. The New York authorities rejected an appeal that the

region be established as a separate province, and Allen

organized a volunteer militia, called the Green Mountain

Boys, to resist the New York cause. Volunteers were raised

by the Committee of Correspondence. They recruited fifty

men and three hundred pounds to set up the Green

Mountain Boys. Allen too, was declared an outlaw by the

governor of New York. At the outbreak of the Revolution,

Allen and The Green Mountain Boys offered to fight against

the British. Arnold was born in Connecticut and enlisted in

the militia during the French and Indian War. Later, as a

militia colonel, Arnold joined with Allen and The Green

Mountain Boys to take Fort Ticonderoga . Allen and

Arnold, by order of the Connecticut legislature, crossed lake

Champlain in two boats with a total of eighty-three men and

captured Fort Ticonderoga early in the morning of May 10,

1775, while the British garrison was still sleeping. Allen

demanded that the British commander surrender in the name

of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress. The

commander complied and consequently there was no

bloodshed. Military supplies from the fort were used to aid

George Washington's ill-equipped American forces, who

were attempting the seige of Boston.